Those who specialize in inheritance law are basically in charge of the process linked to the transfer of assets from a deceased subject to those who are legally declared and recognized as heirs.
Inheritance law is one of the legal specialties that fall within civil law . This branch, also known as inheritance law , allows regulating and establishing the destiny of the assets of someone who has died and which, after the development of a legal process, will be distributed among the heirs .
It is important to know that there are different types of successions , different systems to organize them and that each nation has its own regulations in this regard. As it is a complex matter, and sometimes conflictive when there are no agreements between all the subjects involved in this procedure that usually takes a certain amount of time, it is essential to seek advice from lawyers specialized in this branch of law and follow their instructions.
Key concepts of inheritance law
Numerous key concepts come into play in inheritance law that it is advisable to know and understand in order to have, at least, a basic notion about the scope, applications, importance of this type of law and the figures that intervene in it.
First of all, it is useful to be aware of the meaning of succession , a word with several meanings that, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) , serves to, for example, describe the allocation of assets from an individual to another subject who is accepted as a legatee or heir .
Legatee , a term accepted as a synonym for beneficiary and heir, refers to the person, whether legal or natural, who is benefited by a testator based on at least one command (that is, the legacy of a will ) in a singular capacity. . In this framework, it cannot be overlooked that heir is the one on whom an inheritance falls. The figures of forced heir (or legitimate, legally designated as favored in the absence of a will ) and testamentary heir (designated in a will by the testator himself) are recognized.
It is worth noting that a will is considered a document supported by law that serves as evidence of the last will expressed by the testator , who expresses therein issues linked to the stage that follows his death, including the distribution or disposal of his assets . That being who, following his death, drives the entire dynamics of inheritance law is considered the cause . The individual that a judge or testator chooses to guard the assets of a deceased person and be responsible for enforcing the last will of that deceased person, on the other hand, is defined as an executor .
The alternative known as bare ownership allows someone to make a donation to their heirs during their lifetime considered as an advance payment of the inheritance. In this case, the usufruct of the property belongs to the owner of the property until the moment of his death, without the heirs being able to use said property.
Types of succession and wills
It is even enriching to learn about what types of succession and wills exist.
Broadly speaking, in Law a distinction is made between universal succession (that which marks that the obligations, rights and assets of someone deceased are transmitted to the corresponding number of heirs), forced succession (a mode in which the deceased cannot hinder or modify the formally established succession), testate succession (regulated based on the will expressed by the deceased and has been declared with the formalities of the legal field) and intestate succession (that which develops in the absence of a valid will and advances by provision of current legislation).
The classification of wills , on the other hand, gives rise to the categories of closed will (one that is sealed and endorsed by a notary or notary so that no one knows its content while the testator lives), holographic will (variety that must be adjusted to certain requirements to be validated, such as being written in the handwriting of the person who has the role of testator), will by public act (granted through a public deed in the presence of a couple of witnesses and with the endorsement of a public notary) and will by private act (special and exceptional will that is admitted as valid in emergency cases that prevent the preparation of a holographic will). There are also the nuncupative will (which requires the presence of three witnesses for the testator, in the absence of a notary, to express his last will verbally), the military will (reserved for combatants wounded on the battlefield or destined to intervene in a war conflict) and living will .
When someone dies, a succession process must be initiated before the Court that allows the heirs of the deceased to distribute the assets and dispose of them.
Other information of interest about inheritance law
When investigating what inheritance law is about, what are the steps to follow until an inheritance is awarded , what rights and obligations the heirs have and what tax implications there are in this context, various data and topics of interest come to light. .
For example, the order followed to establish which relatives of the deceased have the right to receive the inheritance and in what proportion becomes relevant: children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, cousins and surviving spouse who has not processed the inheritance. divorce or who is not legally separated.
By delving deeper into this topic, information is accumulated, including on the so-called inheritance tax , and it is possible to analyze the jurisprudence in order to know how Justice acts in cases of inheritance conflicts .